I agree wholeheartedly. Licenses will solve the problem. It's works so well with vehicles after all.
I also agree with your other post about having survivors sit through a tribunal so that a bunch of strangers can second guess every decision they made in a life threatening situation before activating the epirb.
Oh, only landowners should be allowed to vote too.

Unfortunately, the government is not well suited to judging who is and isn't capable of boating safely, and as such will tend to set the bar fairly low. Unless all of the fees from the boater licensing process are going to improving waterway infrastructure and safety... I'm really not in favor of wasting more money on the government.

As for the comparison of a plane to a boat... planes always fall out of the sky if the fuel runs out or you do something majorly wrong. Boats do not always sink, nor do they always hit someone else... comparing a boat, especially a sailboat, which generally has a relatively low top speed, to a plane is sheer fallacy. With the exception of multihulls and some of the larger boats, like GUI's, most of the sailboats found out there are going to be lucky to get up past seven or eight knots... Not exactly fast enough to be a menace in most cases.

Licensing and mandatory education for powerboats, which have the ability to get up to ridiculous speeds, where control and skill is a factor, especially on things like PWC, would make far more sense.

When was the last time you heard of a fatality involving a speedboat and a sailboat, where the sailboat killed someone on the powerboat and the sailboat was at fault???—Never, at least as far as I've heard.

When was the last time you heard about a powerboat killing someone on a sailboat, where the powerboat was at fault—Clear Lake, Ca; Buzzards Bay, MA; etc.. that's far too common.

Sailboats can kill people too. I remember reading not too long ago about a sailbnoat strking another sailboat at night while at anchor and killing almost everyone who was down below asleep (because they were anchored at night). Also, should I bring up our friend Ronnie or others that have followed in his footsteps??

Putting together a license like we use for cars would not be the most helpful thing in the world... but it would help. It would stop the impulse boaters. I dissagree with anyone who thinks it would not help some. At least they might learn rightr or way and basic navigation.

However, I think for boating, it should be as stringent as flying or like a 6 pack/captain's license. I think it should be involved based upon the tonnage you carry. I think for a ski boat... a "drivers license" type of license. For a large Sea Ray, a tonnage type of license.

I'm afraid I'm in agreement with most here. Certification and licensing are not anything helpful in many cases.

Certainly if someone is providing a SERVICE we all want to be assured they are qualified and competent and definitely "requiring" them to pass a TEST to get their license is one thing.

If you're going to carry paying passengers, I can certainly see the need.

However, if you're like me and all I want to do is get out from under already stifling regulation in everything I do then licensing people to "drive a boat" is silly.

On the other hand I've no problem with someone taking a boating safety course and so forth. The Coast Guard offers them I noted on a couple of sites I was just reading.

I'm in the IT/Security field these days. The GOVERNMENT is starting to REQUIRE you have good old Microsoft Certified Security Engineer certifications. This is the most idiotic thing they can do at this time in history.

Computers are everywhere, and everyone 'drives them'.

It isn't the people like me who maintain networks and physical security systems that NEED THE TRAINING! It's the USERS. But are the users being required to have certification? They are the ones who get the viruses. They are the ones that pour coffee in my remote access panels. They are the ones who break things.

Why do *I* need a certification to prove I can (and have been for years) maintain(ing) the equipment?

No... licensing boaters with a drivers license is a silly idea.

The Government can't even take care of it's own "ship" - what makes them or anyone else think they can make me "better take care of mine"?

Government needs to get the HELL out of my life and everyone elses.

The job I do is protect this country. I do it in the background, without asking ANYONE for help. The government needs to take a long, hard look at the lessons the military can teach them. Do your job, do it in the background, keep the bad guys out, and leave the people ALONE.

It may not fall from the sky, but it can sure sink quickly. That makes it dangerous. You can make someone else sink quickly. As such, you are a liability to others. Also, most planes can, in theory when there is an emergency, find a place to land. That may or may not save them. When at sea, in an emergency, you cannot simply find a safe port.

I do not find comparing cars to boats apples to apples at all. Cars do not sink. Cars do not get beyond a safe port. When your car gets a hole in it, you can get out and walk. In general, you cannot swim back from a boat.

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